I intend this to be a list of the lecturers at the major New Testament doctoral programs (or programmes, if you like) in UK. If you’re not looking for NT PhD programs, at least you can find links to the Biblical and Theological programs in the UK and their staff. Tuition Fees are for 2008-2009 (unless otherwise indicated) home/international. Please let me know if I’ve got somebody in the wrong place or am missing someone. Also, let me know of any blogs out there since those are much harder to find.

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40 Responses to “UK NT Lecturers”

I supervise PhD students in New Testament and Hermeneutics on behalf of the London School of Theology. All my PhD students are US-based. They do not have to move to the UK – just one trip for the viva at the end. Cost as of 2006/7: $12K per annum.

My question is this, “What is with the mass exodus of Scotland?” I attend SWBTS in Fort Worth. Today, I was having lunch with a friend from class at our regional ETS meeting on campus. We were talking about post-graduate work and I mentioned Dr. Watson. He had contact with Aberdeen and then told me of the mass exodus. I had to research it for my own sake. Say it ain’t so!

I haven’t heard anything on why this is happening in Scotland. I know Durham has been working on this for a while, both internally and in negotiations for FW. Cambridge had a power vacuum that had to be filled. My guess is that it just happened that a couple of the more prominent schools went fishing and Scotland happened to be the place where they caught the fish.

[…] Posted by Ben under General NT, PhD Stuff I’ve gone through and updated my list of the NT doctoral programmes (or programs, if you like) and the Lecturers at each here in the UK (plus tuition fees for each). There’s been a little bit of turnover, […]

I know several schools allow international-based, part-time students. For instance almost a 1/4 of Durham PhD students are based in the US and just make trips over a few times a year. I’m not sure how many or which other schools do this. I suppose they would be schools that have a part-time international tuition fee.

I’m thinking of pursuing a NT PhD. I’ve been looking up NT professors and checking where they got their PhDs, and it seems like every other evangelical NT professor got their PhD from Aberdeen, but I didn’t find any non-evangelical NT professors studied at Aberdeen.

Do you know why? Is Aberdeen especially prestigious, or was I. Howard Marshall an especially desirable PhD advisor? Is Aberdeen more evangelical?

I think with Howard Marshall and co they were very friendly to US-style evangelicals. I suppose it’s like FF Bruce and Sheffield for the generation before that. It was actually one reason I hesitated to apply there since it has been known as the popular place to go.

I assume Aberdeen still tends that direction with the hire of Tomas Bokedal, who presents at ETS (and is a really nice guy) and with Clarke who is affiliated with Tyndale.

In the end, I think people found it comfortable because they didn’t challenge belief as you might expect at a ‘secular’ school. But in reality, I don’t think many, if any, these days would be outright hostile to belief here.

I’m really glad to find this blog. Thanks a lot, Ben. Let me introduce myself. I am an Indonesian student in Indonesian seminary having deep interest in Pauline studies. While I recognize that Durham is a definite place to study such subject, I also realize that it’s quite like ‘shooting on the moon’ for me. However, I’m still in a bachelor stage, perhaps will be graduated in one and a half years more. I wouldn’t ask you about PhD. I’m asking you about ideal ‘stepping-stone’ for me (such an MA). Thanks a lot, Ben.

Hi Daniel. My advice for MA programs is to pick one at a school that you’d like to do a PhD at. That is, if you are interested in doing a PhD at Durham with Barclay or Watson, you should apply to do your MA here. That way they can get to know you and you them.

It’s my understanding that acceptance requirements are much lower for the MA (than PhD) since it is a one year program vs 3+. I’m not sure what the requirements are but with a 3.0+ GPA or a 2:1, you shouldn’t have much trouble getting accepted at any of the non-Oxbridge schools–Edinburgh, King’s, Durham, etc.

I know that’s pretty generic, but I hope that helps. Let me know if you want clarification on something.

this website has been so tremendously helpful (thank you much)… I got a B.S. in Biology from UCLA and now I’m getting my M.Div at Talbot School of Theology in California, and am just starting to look into Ph.D programs in the U.K.

are the professors you listed above considered “evangelical”? I want to pursue research but my research will probably have a conservative evangelical bent and wanted to know if that would affect who I should seek as a supervisor

further, would taking German courses at a local community be advisable?

I’m sure you are really busy but any advice/help you could give would be tremendously helpful… thanks again!

Mike, Glad to be of help. Most people at the major universities would not be considered ‘evangelical’ by US standards. And even then for those that might be evangelical in a british sense, inerrancy is not the sine qua non of the british version of evangelicalism as in the US. To find a solidly confessional supervisor, you’d have to hook up with somebody like Mike Bird (at HTC, though your degree would technically come from Aberdeen) or maybe from LST and the like. Of the universities, I’ve heard that Aberdeen still has a little of the old Marshall evangelical ethos, but with the recent faculty flip-flop it may not be the best place to go.

However, I wouldn’t discount the ‘university’ programs for 2 key reasons. 1) The british are much better about fostering conversations with people they disagree with. (e.g., think of Gathercole doing his phd with Dunn). As a result, confessional points of view are not discounted as long as you are making good arguments from the text and not just your presuppositions. 2) The large majority of students from the US studying in the UK come from evangelical backgrounds at the major programs. They want your money and they are used to working with evangelicals.

Depending on your career goals, I would highly recommend the universities since they would probably open up doors to broader venues than another confessional school might and you will engage in broader conversations than you might otherwise. But there are also top people at the confessional places as well.

On the German, I would say anything you can do beforehand is great. A class format is helpful in 2 ways: 1) discipline that you wouldn’t have on your own and 2) pronunciation. You’ll lose time with vocab you don’t need, but I’d say that’s not that big of a deal. Plus you never know when modern words will show up.

Durham is really the only place I have actual knowledge of, other places I’ve heard rumors.

FT vs PT: I’m almost certain at Durham you have to be PT b/c their are residency requirements for FT. I get the feeling that with the Moritz program at LST you are FT.

Research: You find a local library to yourself that will let you borrow. Most universities have some online access (mostly journals), but I wouldn’t plan on a lot of help with this aspect.

Communication: It is mostly email, though calls are thrown in. I think it’s expected that you show up a couple of times a year for face to face, usually after you turn in a piece of work.

To be honest, I’m not really sure how one pulls it off. I think the first year contact is so crucial, based on my experience and others’. If you’ve got that and you need to do PT/at a distance after that, I think that seems much more feasible, imho.

Are there any ratings for the seminaries? I found the ratings of U.K. universities online, but I’m ignorant of the reputation of the seminaries and Bible Colleges. Naturally, I wouldn’t want to get a Ph.D. and then find no one respects the institution from which it came. :-)

I haven’t heard anything. I’ve only slowly picked up info about confessional schools here. Since I’m assuming your from the US, I’d say that your PhD supervisor’s reputation is more important that the school’s since those in the US won’t know one from another. In general the larger places like LST, Spurgeon’s, or ICC are going to be better known. Somebody like Chris Tilling might be a good source for info.

I am really impressed at the work you put into this site. Thanks for doing so much of the research for me! I’m from the U.S. and I find most people are very familiar with Spurgeon’s College and ICC. I have only recently been introduced to London School of Theology. How is the school’s reputation in the U.K.? Coming from overseas, I am very leary of applying to a diploma mill. Thanks for your time,
Kelly

I don’t think that LST is a diploma mill. I think your choice would be determined by your professional goals. A friend here mentioned that if you wanted to get a lecturing job afterwards, you might want to think about one of the universities.

At Durham, do you know if there is a reduced overseas rate for students doing their research here but traveling there for supervision? Some schools reduce the fees for their “split-site” students (Exeter and B’ham, for instance).

I stumbled across your blog. What a great resource and thanks for the hard work. I did have a question for you. I noticed you had WEST on the list and Tom Holland. Do you have any thoughts on the program there?

Hi Ben I just found this site and am excited about it. I am an MA in Theology at Newbold College here in the UK. I hope to graduate in July 2010. My plan is to get into a PhD program in another school right after graduation. What will be your advice to me regarding admissions? Am hoping to specialise in Biblical Hermeneutics/NT backgrounds.

Felix, Sorry for just getting back about this. I’m not really up on people doing hermeneutics and backgrounds. You might contact Angus Paddison since he’s somebody I respect that’s doing theological interpretation. He could give you more specific info. If you are thinking about Second Temple Judaism, I’ve been impressed with Lutz Doering here at Durham, but there are plenty of good people out there. Hope it goes well.

[…] professors currently teaching in Germany and Switzerland, hoping to put together a list similar to Dunelm’s for the UK. Please offer corrections when I place someone at the wrong institution, and please let […]

[…] One might also want to read the article about American and British Ph.D. programs on SBL’s website. Information (though slightly dated) about U.K. programs and specialties can be found on the Dunelm Road blog. […]